Page:Africa by Élisée Reclus, Volume 2.djvu/29

 TOPOGBAPHY OF BAEKA. 18 collapse. During recent years the faithful adherents of the order, and especially the citizens of Benghazi, are said to have relaxed considerably in the rigour of their religious professions. It is no rare sight to behold members of the confrater- nity openly violating the observances of the law by smoking tobacco and wearing silken garments embroidered in gold and silver. Topography of Barka. The attention of the European Powers is directed especially to the local seaports, which could be defended by no native force, and the possession of which would enable them to command all the routes leading to the interior. In the eastern dis- trict of Marmarica the port of Marsa Tobruk, known also as Tabarha, seems to present the greatest advantage as a convenient naval station and arsenal. At this point a peninsular mass running parallel with the coast in the general direction from north- west to south-east, terminates at its eastern extremity in two sharp headlands, and at the other end is connected with the mainland by a low isthmus. An inlet some two miles long is limited northwards by this peninsula, and southwards by the cliffs and escarpments of a plateau furrowed by ravines, in which are occasionally seen the foaming waters of cascades some 500 feet high. Vessels drawing over 33 feet can ride in perfect security in this spacious natural haven, sheltered from all winds except those from the east and south-east. A breakwater constructed at the entrance of the bay might arrest the swell from the east, and thus convert the port of Tobruk into one of the best and at the same time one of the largest harbours of refuge in the Mediterranean basin. The ruins either of Antipi/vyos or some other Greek city at the neck of the peninsula, and those of a Saracenic castle on the north side of the jwrt, show that this convenient harbour was never lost sight of, although the surrounding regions are almost desert wastes. In former times Tobruk was probably the station where pilgrims landed en routfi for the shrine of Jupiter Ammon in the Siwah oasis. It was also a port of call for vessels plying between Rome and Alexandria. At present it serves as the outport for cattle supplied by the neighbouring pastoral tribes to the markets of Alexandria, and especially of Jarabilb and the other zawyas of the Senusi Khwans. Round the bay of Tobruk Schweinfurth has detected signs of local upheaval. At a height of 160 feet and a distance of nearly half a mile from the beach, he noticed the shells of the surrounding waters still preserving their natural colour. At some points farther west, near Cyrene and Benghazi, Hamilton thought he observed traces of the opposite phenomenon of subsidence. The Gulf of Bomba, more frequented than the Bay of Tobruk by the small local coasters, enjoys the advantage of being situated immediately east of Cyrenaica proper, in the vicinity of a fertile and relatively well-peopled district. But it is much more exposed than Tobruk, and less accessible to large vessels, which are obliged to cast anchor a long way from the coast ; small craft, however, find safe anchorage behind the islets at the entrance of the bay.